


Cry of Metal and Misery

by Tai_ke_ai



Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Humor, Child Abuse, Cragmite Culture, F/M, Feels T-T, Friendship, Humor, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:23:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9323399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tai_ke_ai/pseuds/Tai_ke_ai
Summary: Tachyon the Cragmite couldn't help the gleeful smile that twisted his beak.He had everything- he was the mightiest warrior in the galaxy, the liberator of the greatest species in the universe, and the emperor of the most powerful nation in the star system. And now his nemesis, Kaden the Keeper of the Dimensionator, was at his mercy all thanks to this squealing pup which he held in his claws.Now that the whelp had aided in his revenge against the scummy Lombax, Tachyon was going to kill it and then it’s father… that is, until a much more wonderful idea came to his mind. An idea that was delicious and just dripping with cruel irony. Tachyon would raise this Lombax pup for himself.It would be exactly like his own past, his own childhood… except for one important detail.Tachyon's life had been spared out of merciful pity, this pup would be spared out of burning revenge. And he would be named for the life he was condemned too which was one of misery.





	1. Chapter 1

5339.3.120.

“Tachyon you slime of scum! Where is my son?!” A voice, full of righteous anger, hit in full force upon the Cragmite emperor's ears. But the sensation only made the warlord smile with cruel pleasure to hear the distress in his most hated enemy’s voice. 

He turned with a slither to see a small yet firmly built figure stalking toward him. The figure came with no army behind him and no friends beside. Just a weaponized wrench in his firm grip and a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

“Well, well, well,” the deformed and puny looking Cragmite rasped from atop his robotic throne. “If it isn't the great and mighty Kaden, Keeper of the Dimensionator. I'm so glad you finally decided to crawl out of whatever hole you were hiding in. Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You know full well, traitor. Where is my son?!”

“You mean this?” Tachyon lifted up his claw like hand to reveal the teeny body of a Lombax pup. It wriggled and screamed in protest to the sharp talons that dug into the velvet fur and pierced the vulnerable skin underneath. 

“Funny story really. I was taking a little pleasure stroll around my new domain, destroying buildings and killing space rats- you know what I like. Anyway, while I was out I heard this crying, and low and behold I found this defenseless little whelp under a pile of rubble. The poor thing had been abandoned and forgotten by its own kind when the cowards fled this dimension. Well, I guess he technically wasn't alone. His mother was there too, but she only lived long enough to tell me the child’s name.”

Here Tachyon paused to give the Lombax a look with his beady eyes. A smile curled on his lips when he saw the despair in the father’s eyes. “Imagine my pleasure to find out that the Keeper of the Dimensionator had a son? I'm hurt you didn't tell me. Although I guess I can forgive you seeing how busy you've been of late, what with the end of your civilization and all. You must be very proud, he is quite a strong thing.” 

At that moment the baby kicked the Cragmite in the head as if to prove the point.

“Ow, why you...” Tachyon shook the child violently, his claws digging even deeper into the pup’s side.

Kaden's hand tightened on the wrench and he growled. “Tachyon, I'm warning you. Give me my son now or I'll make you suffer.”

“I have a better idea. How about I make you suffer. Slowly!”

“Stop toying with time,” Kaden voice shook with rage, “and just tell me what you want?”

“What do you think I want, you brainless fur ball!” The Cragmite yelled, all of a sudden bored of his own little game. “Where is the dimensionator?!”

The Lombax paused and lowered his head with a heavy sigh, his ears casting shadows over his face so that the Cragmite could not read his expression.  
Then he looked up with those intense green eyes. Oh how Tachyon hated those eyes. “If I tell you where it is, you'll use it too bring back the Cragmites, dominate the universe, and destroy my entire race.”

Tachyon laughed. “And if you don't I'll shred this little brat stripe by stripe and make you watch as it screams to death. So which is it; save the one thing you have left in this world, or save the universe that never cared about you and a people that abandoned you. If you ask me, it’s not really a choice.”

There was silence, broken only by the pitiful crying of the baby who still struggled ferociously in the tight grip of the Cragmite. Then the Lombax laughed, a sound that held no happiness in it. A sound so deep and hollow full of hate, rage, hurt, despair, and sadness it froze, for just a moment, the darkened heart of the Cragmite emperor. 

Kaden raised his head and looked up into the black beady eyes of the creature who had destroyed all that he had loved and worked for and who now held his son’s life in his claws. And when their eyes met, so terrible was the rage in the Lombax's emerald gaze that it actually filled the Cragmite emperor with fear.

“Your right, its not a choice at all.”

… 

5354.4.005

“You want me to fly up that?” The young Lombax asked in disbelief as he looked in the direction the jagged claw was pointing.

“Hey, if you want in you gotta play by our rules.” A large Cragmite teen looked down condescendingly at the smaller Lombax.

The Lombax, who was around 15, looked again at the big building. It was a claw shaped structure rising high into the air and then curving down at its pinnacle as if poised to rake the ground with its sharp point. Extremely tall and dark black, the building also had grooves circling up its length almost like a spiraling staircase. Large silver letters along its ridge said Tachyon Tech Claw Inc.

“You want me to ride on the top of the buildings curve, right?” The Lombax asked, hoping he had heard wrong.

“No. That would be too easy. You have to travel down from the top of this building, through traffic, then up the inner curve of the Tachyon Tech Claw, and finally back here in under 95 seconds.”

“But that’s impossible. There is no way anyone could ride the curve of that thing without gravity splattering them on the street below.”

“What’s wrong, Lombax,” the tall Cragmite taunted. “Your species’ cowardly instincts kickin’ in? You gonna run away just like they did?” The other teen Cragmites snickered at the smaller boy.

Tightening his hands into fists, the Lombax fought to keep his emotions in check. He was used to these laughs, the taunting jeers and cruel sneers. He had learned long ago not to let the words get to him. But still, they hurt.

The leader of the group looked at the Lombax with his beady eyes as if searching for something. “Too bad, I thought maybe you could fit in with us. But there’s just too much Lombax in you.”

“He is a Lombax,” one of the other Cragmites rasped with a snicker. “All Lombaxs are cowards.”

“No,” the boy’s eyes shot up and stared at the Cragmite gang, determination and desperation illuminating his green eyes. “I am not a coward and I'm not a Lombax.”

The tall Cragmite leaned in till the two were almost touching, his small yellow eyes staring into the large green irises of the Lombax teen. “Than prove it.”

The Lombax turned and stalked purposely toward the edge of the building that he and his peers stood atop. His eyes studied the path he would take, the strait drop down to the streets below, the busy hover roads and eight way intersection, and finally the Tachyon Tech Claw building itself. Everything looked fairly easy to him till his eyes traced the curve of the clawed building. His first instinct told him it was impossible, but... if he gained enough speed then hypothetically the pull of gravity wouldn't have time to take affect before he would be shooting off the building and flying through the air. Of course, no one had ever achieved this... not yet.

The Lombax set his hoverboard down and stepped on. He crouched; his knees bent, hands poised out, fingers spread as reaching to touch the air around him, and body tilted forward in anticipation of what would come next.

“Ready.” He breathed, excitement building inside of him causing his tail to twitch.

“95 seconds. Remember?”

The Lombax smiled back. “See you in 70 seconds.”

…

5339.3.120

Tachyon screamed in rage as his Drophyd soldiers struggled and fought to untangle themselves from the jigsaw puzzle made up of their own bodies.

The Cragmite’s own robotic throne was on the ground, pinning him so that all he could do was scream out orders and abuses at his soldiers. Again and again his voice could be heard yelling out, “Get that Lombax, you idiots! Get him!!”

But by now Kaden was far gone, leaving behind only a trail of dust that stretched over the landscape and disappeared into the thick forest.

Hugging his whimpering son tightly to his chest, Kaden continued forward. His hover boots were at top speed as he flew through the forest, zipping and weaving in and out of trees like a maniac. Though he had escaped into the dense forest, he knew the danger was far from over. He still had to get off this planet and out of the Polaris galaxy. Even then he wouldn't be safe with Tachyon's army hunting for him.

He looked behind him to see snatches of Drophyds through the trees. They had already disentangled themselves and were on his trail. Kaden bit his lip in frustration, he had been hoping for more of a head start.

“Aphelion!” He spoke into a com, which was inserted in his head gear. “Mission was successful. Pick me up, now!”

“I am afraid I cannot,” a computerized voice spoke back to him. “Aerial and land options are too hazardous. The trees are too dense to travel through and the skies are heavily guarded by Drophyd battleships. Any rescue attempt made here will lead to 99.5% chance of failure. Perhaps you could travel to a more convenient location?”

Already he had zoomed passed several startled Drophyd troops who quickly joined the chase along with his original pursuers. He could hear them crashing through the woods behind him. He didn't have time to travel to a better location, not if he wanted his son to live.

The Lombax looked down at his son who for some odd reason was completely at ease, as if his father’s reckless speeding had calmed the child. The baby was even smiling up at his father, a plea of joy escaping his lips whenever the dad made a quick turn or banked deep.

“Never mind the danger. Pick me up a mile from here in fifteen seconds. You know the place.”

“Plan B?” Aphelion asked.

“Plan B.”

Kaden had grown up with this forest as his back yard, so he knew it like the back of his hand. Right ahead of him was a ledge that dropped about fifty feet into a valley below. The view was beautiful, especially at night when the ocean of trees below glowed fluorescent blue and green while billions of white stars swam above. It was at that very ledge Kaden had proposed to his wife. And now he was planning to do something on that ledge even crazier than asking to marry the most beautiful girl in Fastoon. But it would work. It has to.

Behind him the pursuers were catching up, while infront of him the line of trees were thinning out. And then, in the blink of an eye, the tree’s had disappeared, replaced by empty space. Kaden shot out into open air, the rockets on his hover boots frantically spewing out blue flame. The wind swept through Kaden’s fur and cooled his face. Despite the danger the Lombax found himself smiling as adrenaline and excitement flowed through him. He was flying, actually flying! His son gave a boisterous laugh and almost toppled out of his father’s arms as he stretched his hands out to grasp at the empty air around them. 

But Kaden’s boots were meant to hover over ground, not air. They began to sputter and die, and he started falling. Then there was a flash of colour and the Lombax landed hard upon metal surface. He opened his eyes to see his orange and aerodynamic spaceship underneath his feat.

“Good girl!” He praised the ship as the airlock opened and he jumped into the driver's seat. “Now go, go, go!”

…

5354.4.005

“Woo hooooo!”

The exclamation of excitement was ripped from the Lombaxes lips even as it came out. But he didn't mind. He loved it. He loved it all The rush of wind sifting through his silky yellow fur. The feeling of his large striped ears and tail being pulled behind him through the sheer strength of g-force. The blend of colours as light and shadows zipped past him. The sight of the ground rushing to meet him. It made him feel so alive!

Faster, faster, faster!

He was halfway down the building’s side when suddenly he grabbed the lip of his board and pushed off the slick surface of the building, causing him to shoot out into open air. He began to fall back down, the walls of the building no longer there for his board to hover against. But the Lombax only smiled, he didn't need the wall anymore. His board stopped falling with a jolt as it came in contact with a surface and the Lombax shot forward, riding a thin grind line. Below him the eight way intersection was a chaos of hovercrafts. He gave a laugh as he imagined the surprised look on the Cragmite teens who were watching. Perhaps they would say he cheated. But he really hadn’t. They never said he couldn't go over the traffic.

But fun and games were over and now speed was the Lombaxes best friend. Faster and faster he went, not once letting off on the throttle. The large black claw loomed above him and the young boy felt his heart quicken. His eyes settled on the building a little too long.

BRUUUUAAAAM! BRUUAAM!

The Lombax gasped to see a speed train emerging out from a tunnel and racing straight for him on the grind rail. His eyes searched frantically for an escape. If he continued on the grind line he would smack head on with the train. If he jumped now he would land right in the center of the intersection. Either way he would end up as splattered paint on someone's windshield. 

As the boy searched his eyes fell upon the dark walls of the tunnel the train was emerging from. He bit his lip at the crazy plan his brain was concocting, but his mind was set on it.

Pressing harder on his pedal, the Lombax leaned forward to gain more speed. The train rushed to meet him, looming in front of him like a giant one eyed caterpillar. A very fast and scary one eyed caterpillar.

The great train gave a last cry of alarm as its glowing eye bore down on him a mere arm’s length away. Then he leaned left and shot out of the train’s way and into thin air. For a moment he looked like he would fall to his certain death. Then his board made contact with the circular wall of the tunnel and he sped off, twisting around the tubular underpass like the rivet on a screw. The train's cars zipped by, brushing the tips of his ears as he sped toward the white glow at the end of the tunnel. Shadow was replaced by light and the Lombax landed back on the now empty train line with a triumphant laugh, the whole misadventure having taken up only ten seconds.

Then came the building. The Lombax abandoned the grind line and shot up the wall of the dark claw. Up, up he went, circling the building as he traveled on its rivets. At first he was as fast as a spinning bullet, but then he felt his speed begin to slow. It was only by fractions, but he knew it was enough. Leaning in, his knees touched his chest as he tried to make himself as small as possible. His foot never left the gas.

Then he began to ride the inner curve of the building and he found himself hanging upside down. He knew this not by his vision which told him he was looking at the world upside down, but he didn't feel the difference. It was funny really how he felt as if he were right side up and everything else was wrong. Then, gravity began to pull him down. His feet left the board, the petal of the gas was let up. 

No! No, no, no. He wasn’t going to give up. He had made it this far, he could make it all the way.

His teeth ground together as he gripped the edge of his board with his fingers.

The Lombax shot off the pinnacle, righting himself in mid air with a cry of triumph. He made it!

The slight panic pumping in his heart left with the danger and his breath caught in his chest as he took in the scenery around him. The sun was shining down on him in its full brilliance while around him was only air with a landscape of a busy city far below. He was flying, actually flying! And it felt amazing.

A bubbling laugh of glee was ripped from the boy’s lips as his flight quickly became a decent, gravity pulling him down as if to remind him it still existed. But the kid couldn't care less.

His descent brought him to the building where the Cragmite gang was waiting, their mouths wide open and beady eyes staring at him in shock. Suddenly they seemed to realize he was coming down and scattered as his board hit the rooftop and he slammed on the break. It didn’t work to well, though, and his board flipped causing the Lombax to go flying off, tumbling head over heals on the concrete of the building’s flat roof.

“Ow,” The boy chuckled as he pulled himself off the ground. All the adrenaline was gone replaced by a few bruises, but he was still smiling. He still needed to work on his landing, but that had felt great.

“Hey, Lombax!” 

The boy looked up to see the leader Cragmite standing over him. He gulped, his smile gone.

“66 seconds.” the large Cragmite teen said with a creeping grin. “Nice work.”

All the others came rushing toward him whooping in excitement. The Lombax boy flinched in fear before he realized they weren't swarming to beat him up but to congratulate him.

“Congrats champ! You are officially a member,” the leader Cragmite announced as his hard claw slapped the small Lombax on the back. “And now that you’re one of us you can join our hoverboard team. We're doing a race this weekend. What-d-ya say?”

But before the bewildered and excited Lombax could reply, a huge dark ship cast its shadow upon the group. 

“This is the Home Force Enforcer Force. Put your hands in the air and remain calm as the Enforcers arrest you for illegal activity as decreed by Emperor Tachyon.”

“Scatter!” The older Cragmite cried in alarm and everyone ran, everyone but the Lombax that is. He couldn't disappear into a crowd like they could, running for him only got him in more trouble. So he stood as his new friends abandoned him, his hands in the air and head down. He knew the drill.

…

5339.3.120

Stars zipped by as they traveled through the eternal emptiness of space. Kaden gave a sigh of relief as he relaxed in his chair. His respite was short lived, however. He had been running on adrenaline for too long and now that he had a moment of peace, the horror of his situation came crashing down upon him. He crumpled in his chair, his body racked by heavy sobbing. His friends, family, world, and wife were all gone. How had everything gone wrong so fast.

He wept until his already exhausted body could take it no longer and he fell into a deep slumber.

When he woke he felt no better; his tongue was thick and stuck to the roof of his mouth while his eyes burned and ached. His limbs felt stiff from sleeping in the cabin chair and his sorrows were still fresh.

But he knew he couldn't wallow in his pain forever. He had responsibilities. Of course there was the dimensionator which he had to protect, but above that was his son. 

Kaden felt a thin smile stretch weakly across his face. His son was safe.

Speaking of his son, how long had it been since the child had been fed? 

Fear gripped the new father’s heart when he realized just how quiet the cabin was. Turning over to the seat beside him he gasped to see it empty, his son gone.

“Aphelion!”

“Don't worry sir,” The ship answered, knowing exactly what he was thinking. “I am picking up the young Lombax’s readings inside this ship. His heartbeat and his mind activity are normal. Though I do sense his energy levels are low and need to be replenished.”

Kaden got out of his seat and turned his attention to the back of the ship, the only other place the baby could be. The space back there was empty except for his omniwrench, plasma blaster, food supplies, and a couple of tanks of fuel. But his son wasn't there. Looking behind the fuel tanks and in the supply cupboard, Kaden began calling out his son’s name. But nobody answered. His heart beat faster.

“Are you sure he’s in here?” Kaden asked his ship, Aphelion.

“Positive... Unless my scanners were damaged during the escape.”

“Can't you just tell what is damaged?”

“Normally yes, but if my internal and scanners were damaged and giving off false reading then I would not know of the discrepancy.”

“Perfect.” Kaden muttered under his breath, his heart quickening with every second. Then he stopped. He had heard something small and echoey. A giggle. Looking toward the sound he saw the puff of a yellow striped tail sticking out from under a large and awkward helmet thingy.

“Wait, I found him.” Kaden said as he walked over to the dimensionator and lifted it up. Sure enough, the little rascal was sitting under the hat sucking on a morph-o-ray. With a petrified gasp, the father snatched the gun out of his son’s hands causing the infant to fall over onto its back. He sighed with relief to find that the safety had been on...but still, that was close. His son was not so relieved, however, and started balling.

“No wait, don't do that. Shh, shhh. Come on, don't cry.” The father picked his pup up and cradled him in his arms. The child's little hands grasped at his father’s fur and held tightly so that Kaden winced. 

“There, there. Don't cry. I've already done enough crying for the both of us. You have to be brave now. Okay? I know things are going to be hard and dangerous, but I promised your mother I would keep you alive. I intend to keep that promise. So you have to stop crying and trust me. Can you do that?” The father continued whispering to his child and rocking him back and forth. But the babies crying only became louder.

“Sir,” Aphelion interjected. “I believe the baby is asking for nourishment.”

Kaden almost slapped himself in the head. “Of course. I really am a poor excuse for a father, aren’t I?” He jumped up and began searching through the coolers for milk with one hand while the other continued to rock the child. Finally he pulled out a small bottle of chocolate milk. Kaden grimaced knowing it was not proper for a young lombax pup, but he had nothing else to offer. Grabbing a latex glove, he tied all the fingers in knots except for the thumb which he poked a hole in. He then wrapped the glove around the carton creating a makeshift baby bottle which he offered to his son. At first the child couldn't figure out how to get at the drink and both father and son struggled till the baby finally clasped on with his mouth and started sucking. Both Lombaxes gave a sigh of relief.

The baby sucked hungrily, his tail swishing back and forth in delight. The father stared down at his son as he drank, pride and wonder filling Kaden to see the strong and healthy child. Everything about the pup was mini and precious. The only thing not little was the pups orangish striped ears which flopped about as the child squirmed, often getting in the way as he tried to snuggle against his father's chest. A silky yellow fuzz covered the baby's body and on the end of his tail was the softest pom-pom Kaden had ever seen. The little hands gripped tightly to his father’s fur, the mini fists clasping and unclasping in a rhythmic pattern. The other part of the pup that were not so small were eyes which looked disproportionate to the rest of him. Large and dilated, the father found himself lost staring into the black inkiness of the pupils before the lids closed over them and the child fell into slumber.

A tear of sadness and joy trickled down Kaden's cheek as he stared down at his little miracle. His hands traced the child's belly and side, feeling the new wombs from Tachyon's claws that scarred his perfect little skin.

“Oh my beautiful boy,” He whispered into the sleeping child's ear. “I will always be here for you so you’ll never alone. I promise.”

…

5354.4.005

The young Lombax sat alone in the dim-light room of the Detention center. His shoulders were hunched and his hands hung loosely by his side. His two large ears hid his face from view and his tail hung limply to the ground. His eyes, however, were sparkling with activity.

“Why,” he whispered to himself. “Why does nothing ever seem to go right for me?”

The sound of footsteps caught the Lombax’s attention and he looked to the metal door straight ahead of him. Along with the footsteps was a sort of heavy clanging, metal points hitting on metal surface. The boy’s eyes flashed with recognition at the sound.

The door swung open and in walked several Cragmite Enforcer Forces, followed by a tall and spindly robotic throne. The Lombax didn't need to look up to know who was on that throne.

“You insubordinate offspring of pain!” The raspy and high pitched voice of the great Cragmite emperor blasted him with insults. “Of all the idiotic and stupid things you've ever done, this is by far the absolute winner of complete foolishness. You of all people should know the rules. Is there even a brain inside that fuzzy skull?”

The Lombax kept his head down, hiding the light in his eyes with the shadows from his large ears.

“Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!!”

The Lombax remained in his hunched posture. Tachyon hissed, then turned to the other guards. “Leave us.” 

The soldiers looked at each other as if they wanted to argue, but they nodded. Even though Tachyon was a puny Cragmite he was emperor, liberator of their race, and a respected conqueror. In the end they trusted that their lord would know how to discipline the cursed Lombax sitting in front of them.  
The kids eyes flicked up when he heard the closing of the door echo in the now empty room. He couldn’t help letting out the sigh of relief. Despite himself, he still wasn’t comfortable around Cragmite soldiers.

“Dad-”

“Ractshet!” Tachyon almost screamed. The Lombax, Ractshet, could feel Tachyon's beady black iris stared down at him with disdain and disappointment. “You striped livered fuzz brain. Boggled eyed bimbo. Colossal eared cork head. Plush tailed-”

“Alright, I get it!” The boy yelled back at his dad in frustration. “I messed up. But I don't see why you have to blow this out of proportion. It was only a small larceny.”

“If you can't see why the situation you’ve put me in is so bad, then you truly are thick in the head. Your a descendent of cursed race, do you really need anymore bad press than that?! And what about me, do you even think about how your stupid stunts reflect on me? I am an emperor of a great and powerful nation, do you know how much pressure I have on me to keep up my image. And add on to that you and your ridiculous antics, it’s almost unbearable.”

“I'm sorry, alright!” Ractshet blurted out before cringing in on himself and whispering in a much quieter voice, “I’m sorry.”

Tachyon looked down on his adopted son. The kid was distressed and wretched looking. The emperor had to cough to hide the smile that flashed on his scaly lips. 

“What am I going to do with you? You know I'm only being hard on you to help you. Look at yourself. Your a Lombax. Already I have to fight every day to keep you here without you stirring things up. The others, well, they just can't forget the heinous crimes your kind committed against us.”  
“I may look like a Lombax,” the boy bit back bitterly, “but I'm not one of them.”

“I see that, you see that, but they don't. When they look at you they see their enemy. And can we blame them?”

“No,” Ractshet eyes dropped a moment, but then they rose again with hope. “But I can prove it to them. I'll prove I'm loyal only to the Cragmites. All I need is the chance to do that…”

Tachyon felt pride to see the desperate look in the eyes of the Lombax, the boy really did hate his own kind. 

“Honestly, I don't think there is anything you could do to change their mind.” Tachyon frown deepened. “You will always remind them of their past sufferings. ”

“I just wanted to make a friend.”

Tachyon saw the longing in the child's eyes.“Oh, Ractshet, Ractshet, Ractshet. You should know by now you can never have friends.”

Ractshet hung his head in defeat as the words sunk in.

And he believed them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emperors have short tempers and mechanics are not good at naming things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No seriously, don't let a mechanic give you a name.

5354.4.004

The young woman watched as the small round shuttle departed from the docking station and slowly drifted off into the inkiness around it. Then she saw a flash of light and the ship disappeared.

A familiar shadow loomed over her and she turned to see her father. He was a tall man with a barrel chest and lustrous brown main, he was a model of pride and authority to which everyone including her looked up to him in hope and aw. “Father?”

The man turned his kind eyes to look upon his pride and joy. “Yes.”

“Will it work?”

“Let us hope?”

“But is there nothing else we can do.”

“For the moment... no. It’s all up to him.”

Sasha Pyronix turned her gaze back into the starry world outside. The moments passed with no passage of time as father and daughter gazed out to the stars before turning their backs to the world of light and dark outside.

…

5354.4.005

Ractshet sat atop the domed roof of his small home. His knees were tucked against his chest while his arms wrapped around them tightly. Stars swam in the sky above him and a warm glow shone from the city in the distance. But Ractshet wasn't in the city nor up among the stars. He was stuck in the desert, alone and useless. 

This was his home, a small building set in the middle of nowhere. Tachyon said it was for his own safety and the Lombax believed him; at least, he believed his father was telling part of the truth. Ractshet knew the other reason for this separation from society was to keep the Cragmite populace comfortable. After all, how happy would they be with a child of their worst enemy being their next door neighbor?

And can you blame them? Tachyons words wrung inside Ractshets head. The boy slammed his fist against the cold metal roof in frustration.  
“Now, what did you do that for sonny?”

Ractshet looked up in surprise to see an older Cragmite pulling himself up from the hatchet in the roof. “Argocs?”

“Don't look so surprised, little rat,” the elder chuckled. “You didn’t think I would let you sulk up here for long, did you?”

Ractshet smiled as the older Cragmite set himself down a few feet from the lombax. “So tell me, what's bothering you?”

The boy kept his eyes upward toward the stars, “You know.”

“I didn't come up here to learn something I don’t know. I came here to help you learn something you don’t know, and the best way to do that is to talk through what you do know.”

Ractshet sighed, not sure if he was prepared to open himself up. “It’s just... he’s constantly angry at me and I don’t know why?”

“Tachyon?”

“Ya. I mean, I know he’s just trying to protect and help me, and I owe him a lot for that. But sometimes I feel as if he actually enjoys yelling at me.”

Ractshet instantly felt awful for saying those thoughts aloud. He turned to Argocs and immediately apologized. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm just frustrated.”

Argocs remained silent for a while, his eyes studying the heavenly bodies above. Then he spoke, “Tachyon had a hard life, like yours- only he didn't have anyone to protect him. He grew up a freak among his enemies. The humiliation and disdain he suffered was unimaginable. In many regards, it is because of these unpleasant memories that he took you in. He wanted to try and give you the chance at the life he never could have. So when he rants and yells, you must recognize that it’s not you he is angry at. It is the unfairness of his own life and the stubborn fear of the other Cragmites. He knows that they will never see you as anything but their enemy, just as the Lombaxes never saw him. And that, for him, is maddening.” Argocs looked to the lombax and smiled. “He does love you, even if he doesn't know how to show it.”

“I guess you’re right,” the Lombax tried to give a smile. “Thanks for coming up here.”

“Any time little space rat.” The old Cragmite gave a light chuckle. “Now, unlike you, my old bones cannot sit out here all night. You don't mind if I retire, do you?”

“Na, of course not. You have quite a trip to make back to the city.”

“Thats right. I almost forgot about that. Too bad your home is so far away.”

“Ya,” Ractshet laughed half heartedly. Argocs was just about to disappear down the hatchet when the lombax suddenly called out. “Wait.”  
The old Cragmite halted and looked at the lombax expectantly.

“Do you...” Ractshet stared nervously. “Do you believe I'll never be able to have a friend?”

Argocs chuckled to himself. “Stranger things have happened in this universe.” Then he disappeared into the night.

Ractshet sighed, unsure what to make of it. He lay back on the hard metal plating to stare back into the unmeasurable blanket of stars.

Then he saw the first shooting star. Usually Ractshet felt excitement at seeing a meteor shower. When he was a child he used to pretend they were lasers from enemy ships and he was a pilot dodging their rays and shooting them down. Sometimes he still liked to play that game, but tonight his heart was heavy. As he watched the stars fall they only made him feel smaller and that much more alone.

But still… they were beautiful. Shining lights of purity that fell across the black backdrop of miles of nothingness before vanishing, swallowed by the ink of eternity.

One star, sparkling brighter than the others, streaked so low across the sky it almost looked like it was falling toward him. But the Lombax had seen enough light shows to know it was just an... illusion?!

No, that star really was falling toward him!

Ractshet sat up, his ears held erect in curiosity as the meteor came closer. He gasped to see that it wasn't a meteor but a space shuttle! The burning sphere flickered as it passed right above his head and vanished behind a cliff in the distance before he heard it crash with screeching metal and flying dirt.  
Leaping to his feat, Ractshet jumped off his roof and fell into a role before dashing off toward the fading glow in the distance.

He came to a halt at the edge of a cliff. Far below lay the desert landscape, red rock and shifting sand that stretched out as far as the eye could see. And there, creating a ring of scorched sand and crushed rock, was a crater with the burning hunk of metal in its center. With a smile on his face, the Lombax leapt off the cliff and slid down the steep slope to the bottom. He just had to check this out.

…

5354.4.004

“XJ-0461?” A deep voice spoke to a small robot no bigger than a toaster oven. The robot blinked, the 68 bulb light rods in his green lenses focused on the figure standing before him. 

“Are you aware of your mission?”

XJ-04671 cocked his head as information seemed to come almost unbidden into his mind from his memory bank. 

“Yes, General Pyronix. The mission has been successfully downloaded.” The robot responded. He then looked down at his small tin like body and thin robotic arms. “But I do have a question. This mission seems very important and dangerous. Would not a stronger, more stealthy, and heavily weaponized robot be more appropriate?”

The Cazares that towered above him laughed which caught the robot as strange behavior for a leader. “My daughter thought the same thing. No, I don't think a heavy duty robot would be best. Once you’re out there in the field you'll see why you are perfect for this job. Now any more questions?”

“No, I am prepared to depart as soon as my transport is ready.”

“Good. The sooner you start the sooner this all comes to an end.” General Pyronix pointed to a door which XJ-4671's sensors told him were bay doors. He reasoned that his space shuttle was behind them and headed off immediately.

“One more thing,” the Cazares called out causing the robot to turn around one last time. “We have you set to enter the atmosphere during a meteor shower so you should go through undetected. Once you have landed your shuttle will self destruct to hide all evidence. So make sure you get at least five meters away within ten minutes of landing.”

“Understood,” the robot nodded, “Any other instructions?”

“No, you may depart now.”

The robot promptly saluted and dashed off to the bay doors.

General Pyronix sighed. It felt wrong sending this robot off into such danger without even giving it free will to make the decision itself. It was programed in it to obey till it’s destruction. Though the general felt guilty, his guilt did not outweigh the safety of the universe, and XJ-04671 had to succeed if there was going to be a future to look forward to. This was their last hope.

…

5354.4.005

The shuttle was a smoking mess of molten metal and sparkling lights. On the outside the shuttle was complete junk, but who knew what cool gadgets or hardware was within.

Inching closer to the sphere, Ractshet froze as the craft suddenly hissed and a door popped open and unfolded into stairs.  
Ractshet snatched up the nearest weapon in reach- a rock- and held it alof,t ready to use in case of danger.

First he saw glowing green eyes and a blinking red dot appear inside the darkness of the ship and Ractshet instinctively tightened his grasp on the rock- which promptly crumbled into dust. The Lombax wanted to kick himself for grabbing a stone from inside the ashen crater zone. Of course the stone would be burned to dust!

With nothing else to protect himself with, Ractshet could only stand and watch as the green and red lights emerged from the shuttle- the thought of running never even crossing his mind.

The creature Ratchet had noticed before came out of the darkness of the shuttle, stood a moment in the light of the red embers, surveyed its surroundings with those large green glowing eyes, then took its first step forward, and promptly tripped and fell down the steps head over heals- its body clanking loudly as it tumbled down. 

Despite himself Ractshet laughed at the comedic scene of what looked like a teeny toaster oven tumbling down stairs, hitting each step individually before finally disappearing for a moment in a cloud of ash as it’s body slammed into the earth. 

Ratchet knew he didn’t have to be afraid of this thing. Whatever this thing was it was too small to hold any weapon unless it was a walking taser gun (which he seriously doubted), so he stepped closer to the toaster thingy. 

The thing shook itself off and looked up at the world with its green glowing orbs and mouth slightly ajar as if in in awe of its surroundings. It had a small silver round head with an antenna and blinky red light on top. The body was square with some sort of vent in the middle. The legs, arms, and neck were black with silver hinges at the joints allowing for movement. It had three flat metal plates for fingers and a simple foot design for the robot to balance and walk on. Overall it was kind of cute and sort of simple.

“You okay there?”

The robot blinked at him.

“Do you not understand Cragmite?”

The robot eyes drifted away from Ractshet as it scanned the area surrounding it.

“You don't look like any Cragmite design I've ever seen. So you must be from somewhere else. I don't see any marking suggesting what species made you. Do you mind if I take a closer look?”

The robot looked back at him, its head tilted to the side as if curious at what stood before him.

“Well of course you can't answer me if you don't understand what I'm saying, can you?” Ractshet threw his hands in the air and laughed at himself.  
“Oh, I understand.” The robot startled the Lombax by suddenly speaking. “But there is some corruption in my memory chip as I cannot identify your species. I also seem to be missing vital information. At least, I believe it was vital.”

“So, do you know where you're from?” Ractshet asked feeling excited that the robot didn’t know what he was and therefore wouldn’t hate him.  
“Negative, that information seems lost to me.”

“And what about your name. You gotta at least remember your name.”

“That too is missing from my files.” The robot shook its head as if sad. “I do not even know my primary function. But I feel that it was very important.”  
Ractshet lowered himself to one knee in order to place an encouraging hand on the small distressed robot. “Hey, that’s okay little guy. I'm a bit of a mechanic, so perhaps I can try and fix you.”

“Can you?” The robot said with a tint of hope in the reverberation of his voicebox while tilting his head in a questioning manner.  
“Ya, just follow me and I'll bring you to my workshop. It’s a secret though, so don’t tell my dad.”

“How could I? I do not know your dad.”

Ractshet laughed. “Do you always take everything literal?”

“Literal,” the robot repeated. “Definition: ‘Taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory.' Yes, I assumed that I am supposed to take words literally. The reference to your father was not a metaphor or an allegory, was it?”

“Never mind,” Ractshet waved his hand dismissively. “Let’s just get there first and talk about your sense of humor later.”

No sooner had the two gotten to the rim of the crater than the shuttle behind them exploded, the force of the combustion knocking them both flat on the ground.

The robot turned to see the only home he had ever known now a black pile of ash that slowly started to mix with the red sand around it.

The Lombax laughed as he got to his feat and helped the robot to his as well, “Guess there’s no going back where you came from, huh.”

…

5354.4.005

“Well,” the high pitched voice screamed (although his voice was normally high, so no one could ever tell if he was screaming or just talking). “I'm waiting for a report!”

A somewhat nervous terachnoid gulped as its companions pushed it forward. “Ehem, um… yes Emperor Tachyon. The foreign object crashed somewhere in the Ghodi district. Our scanners aren't picking anything else up so it appears to have been destroyed upon impact.”

“I know that you idiot! I can see, you fleshy excuse of brain and skin. What I want to know is what the foreign object was?”  
“It was an escape pod.”

“Space shuttle.”

“Meteor.”

“Space junk.”

Several Terachnoid scientist said at once.

“Really?” The emperor stared at the nervous Terachnoids with a sinister glint of annoyance in his eyes. “A possibly dangerous foreign object enters into our atmosphere, and you all are throwing random guesses at me? You can’t even agree with each other on what lie to tell me in order to save your sorry hides!!!!”

“Sir,” one of the scientist below him tried to speak.

“What!” the emperor shrieked. The sound of glass shattered from somewhere else in the room, and was followed by a sad sigh. From the other side of the room a Terachnoid worker got up to replace his now broken glass of water, completely unaware of the audience he had gained. The emperor's eyes followed the oblivious creature as it refilled another glass, water dribbling slowly out of the water cooler. Finally, the Terachnoid sat back down and began humming again. With a heavy, annoyed sigh, Tachyon turned his attention back to the scientist who had spoke earlier.

“We can confirm that the object is not a threat,” the younger Terachnoid who had spoken up earlier continued.

“How?”

“The meteor, or whatever it may have been, was too small to fit any creature. If it was a shuttle or pod, its tech was too outdated or dysfunction to be picked up by your scanners. You’re more important scanners which function to identifying weaponry was unable to pick up anything, therefore whatever it was, it was not dangerous. Also, your scanners and heat detectors tell us that the object was burning up. Shortly after making contact with the earth it completely disappeared suggesting its substance was disintegrated fully by the fire. This means that even if there was something in there, it is completely destroyed now.”

Emperor Tachyon stared at them for a moment then sighed. “Fine, this time you all got lucky. But next time this happens I'm firing everyone.”

As Tachyons robotic throne clanked away everyone sighed with relief but were still anxious. Everybody knew what happened to any worker that got fired. 

…

5354.4.005

The room was small and cluttered with bolts, wrenches, and random scraps of metal or wires strewn about in a disorganized mess. A few interesting projects lay about the mess with an especially large machine hidden under a tarp, only a wing like structure sticking out of one corner. Though there were no windows the workshop was lit fairly well with a large light hanging from the low ceiling as well as a bright desk lamps on the workbench.  
There were only two figures in the secret workshop, a large eared cat like sapient sitting in a chair by the workbench and a small bread box looking robot sitting atop the workbench.

The small robot felt as if a swarm of tumfoids were scurrying about his head as the organic life form worked busily inside.

“Wow, I've never seen this type of robotics used before. Your circuitry and gear configuration are simple yet complex at the same times. It’s almost like you’re an outdated model, but at the same time your robotics should be in some kind of future fair.”

“Does this information indicate in any way who may have created me?” The robot asked.

“Ha! I couldn't even place what era you were made in. Its like you come from a time in between time.”

“Oh.” The robot sighed, the sound of disappointment evident in his voice.

“Don't worry, though. I've almost got a hold of your memory chip. At least, I think your memory chip is behind here... Ah ha! There it is.”

The robot felt the sapient's fingers fiddling inside his head and suddenly fell into a fit of strange laughter.

“What?” the creature’s head tilted in confusion.

“It tickles.”

“Tickles! But you can't feel anything, unless...” At this the creature, which the robot’s internal memory bank could still not identify his species, took a step back and looked intently at the robot. His brow furrowed and he tapped his ratchet thoughtfully against his chin. Then a look of excitement sparked in his eyes and he gave a laugh of excitement. “So that’s the strange frequency my scanners were picking up! You must have some sort of macroscopic motor plate endings built into all of your paneling.”

“But why?” The robot looked a little lost as he tried to figure how feeling might help discover his purpose. “I do not need to feel, do I?”

“Well, I guess you don't need to. But it’s still pretty cool, right?”

“I suppose.”

“You wouldn't mind if I took a closer look at your paneling, just to see how these plate endings work?”

“Could you first finish with fixing my memory chip? You seem to get distracted easily.”

“Oh, ya of course. Sorry.” The creature immediately turned back to his work with gusto and soon held the small chip triumphantly in his hand which he began studying intently under a large magnifying glass. “Wow! A pebibyte 3000. I've only heard rumors about these things. The pebibyte is said to be able to hold all of the information in the entire universe, which is crazy. Oh... There is a problem though.”

“What?” The little machine asked anxiously.

“Your memory chip is completely fine.”

“How is this a problem?” Clank cocked his head and looked at the mechanic behind him.

“Didn’t you say you were missing information?”

The robot nodded in affirmation and then his eyes widened as he realised what the sapient was getting at. “But then, what of my missing memories?”  
“There’s no damage or indication that something’s missing. So that must mean one of two things.

“First, someone erased your memory. But I highly doubt that. From what I've seen of you so far, I would guess you have a wicked security system. The other option is that there is nothing missing at all and never was.”

The robot hung its head defeatedly. He felt sure that there had been something important he was supposed to do. Now that there wasn't, he felt empty and purposeless.

The room fell quiet as the robot patiently sat while the cat like sapient began reattaching his memory chip and putting back all the gears and wires he had moved. The robot would not have minded if the silence had continued, he had a lot to think about, but the young mechanic was not so comfortable with quiet.

“So I was thinking, now that we know- or guessed at least- that you weren't missing anything we should come up with a name for you. How about Blinkey? Na, that one is dumb. What about Silver, Tin-can, Tommy, Mark, Nutbox- what am I even saying, that one's like a bad joke- George, Metal head, Tickles…”

By this time the mechanic was done working and the robot turned around to give the furry creature behind him a glare.  
“I know, I’m really bad at this,” the creature said apologetically. 

“Perhaps I can help you. How does your kind usually come up with names on this planet?”

“Well, Cragmites don’t name their kids till they have accomplished some great act in battle. Depending on what that act was the kid gets a name. I suppose with you we’ll just have to settle for anything you did... unless you’ve been in a war recently?”

“Negative, my memory only goes as far as the moment I first saw you.”

“Well than let’s start there. First you fell from the sky during a meteor shower, so I could call you Meteor.”

The robot shook his head. “You did say that names were chosen based on an action which I accomplished. I cannot say that I accomplished falling from the sky. That was not something which I did, but which happened to me. May we move on.”

“Your shuttle was on fire so we could call you Burning Inferno.”

“Negative, I didn’t do that either.” And besides that’s awful, the robot thought as he looked at the creature who seemed to be enjoying this a little too much.

“You’re so picky.” The sapient complained, putting on a ridiculous sour face. Apparently he had really liked that last name (which was appalling).

“So after my shuttle crashed I came out.” The robot tried to get the mechanic to continue with the search.

“Oh ya! You didn’t just come out. You tripped-” here the teen gave a quick laugh as an idea lit up in his eyes. “That’s it! We’ll call you Khlank!”

The robot’s mouth fell slightly open and he looked questioningly up at the large eared creature. “Khlank? But that means ‘cry of metal.’”

“Well, it’s the closest the Cragmite language comes to the funny sound you made coming down the stairs of your shuttle.”  
“My metal never cried,” the robot objected sternly.

“I know, I know. But you have to try to work with me here. That’s just the only word the Cragmites have for metal making a sound besides death rays.”  
“Well, what was the sound I made?”

“It was sorta like a ‘clink-clank-clonk-clunk’ sound.” The creature animated each sound he made with a funny expression as if he were falling down stairs himself. Despite his distress the little robot gave a funny chuckle which made the sapient smile widen. 

And then an idea hit the creature, “Clank! We should call you Clank. I know it’s not a proper Cragmite word, but it sounds great.”

The robot considered this a moment. For some reason he hated the harsh tones of the Cragmites language and flinched inwardly every time he or this mechanic used it. So Clank, though humble, felt perfect. “Name accepted. And what about you? Do you have a name?”

“Course I do. I'm Ractshet.”

Clank looked up in surprise, sure he had heard wrong. “You said Ratchet, correct?”

“No. I said RAC-te-shET.”

“You mean the ancient Cragmite word for ‘misery?’”

The sapient paused before answering as he gave the question serious thought. “Um, no. I… I mean Ratchet. There is no way, of course, that anybody would name their kid-hehe- misery. My name is Ratchet. So, hi. Its nice to meet you Clank.”

The robot stared at the creature before him, blinking once, then smiled back. “It is nice to meet you too Ratchet.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner is a perfect meal to eat with the family.

5339.4.016.

Space. Quite. Still.

A billion spheres of fiery lights illuminated the black emptiness light years away. The space was a mixture of dark and light. Neither predominated the other. Always in a perfect balance. 

Everything seemed to move slowly as if there was no time frame, no need to rush anywhere and no need to stand still.

The silence was eternal. Until it wasn't.

A desperate cry, weak and fragile, called out waking Kaden from his fitful sleep. He got out of his makeshift bed and drowsily pulled himself toward a box set atop empty supply crates. Inside his son begged for food with his little voice, wailing as he thrust his hands in the air toward his father’s face. Kaden picked the child up and slowly started rocking him, rubbing his tummy and cooing softly to ease the baby’s pains.

There wasn't any food left.

One month and a days had passed since Tachyon had come into power and things were getting desperate. Because of the hit Tachyon put on all Lombaxes still in the cosmos, there wasn't a single creature willing to risk their life to help any of them. No one would sell food or supplies to him. Heck, no one would even get close to him. Not that Kaden could blame them. If Tachyons forces found you near a Lombax, chances were you would get caught in the crossfire.

But Kaden had to do something. He had to find someplace he knew he would be welcome, someplace he knew he could find help.

He could feel his son's life slipping away each day. Already the once chubby pup was now skinny and... Kaden froze. The child's body felt incredibly hot.

“Aphelion?” Kaden called out to his ship, the stress and worry relevant in his voice. “How close are we to the base?!”

“It should only be another eleven hours, fifty-two minutes, and sixty-eight seconds.”

He cursed under his breath. His son needed help now, “Start up your warp engine.”

“The damages received while at Fastoon were severe and fuel is dangerously low for such a jump. Engaging the warp drive now would lead to 86% engine failure as well as 94% chance of complete shutdown. If that were to happen-”

“I know what the danger is, but I have to take that chance. He won't survive, Aphelion! Not if I can't get him help now.”

There was a moment of silence. Then the ship responded. “Starting warp engine. It will be ready to engage in T minus one minutes and ten seconds.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Strapping on his seatbelt he rocked the child in his arms, afraid that if he put the child down his soul would flee his body. “Aphelion, take the controls.”

“Yes sir. Time remaining till jump is T minus one minute.”

The father kissed his son on the forehead, whispering a prayer in his ear. “Keep fighting little one. Just a little longer and then you shall have help.”

…

5354.4.009

Ractshet the Lombax was sitting in a corner with a cone on his head. Again.

The obvious reason was his long striped ears and fluffy tipped tail which marked him as the cragmites sworn enemy.

The teacher would say that it was because he was a disruptive influence. Of course he kind of was, but that was no fault of his. The other Cragmites had gotten tired of their teachers lectures and had turned their attention to bullying Ractshet, their favorite pass time. When the shadow of the large and furious professor fell upon them they all knew what was going to happen next.

And now Ractshet was sitting on a high stool with his back exposed to all of his enemies and his eyes staring into the cobwebbed corner of the classroom. His arm hurt where a Cragmite claw had raked across his skin and his back still felt as if it were on fire. Cragmite teachers were known for their ferocious teaching methods and his professor had felt a strong conviction in the moment that Ractshet needed to be taught a lesson.

It's not even my fault. I was just trying to protect myself. Still, things could be worse. At least he was strong and fit, even if he was smaller than all the other kids. He knew of one Cragmite who had been made to run in front of a squadron of warrior class students during a charging exerciser. The reason for this cruel and unusual punishment? He was too small.

If Ractshet had learned anything during his life it was that in a Cragmite empire you had to fight to survive. Thank goodness he was in the hunter class... barely.

A gonging hiss reverberated in the air and all the students leapt up in excitement that school was over. Everyone rushed out except for Ractshet. The rule was that ‘he who has been shunned’ had to wait till everyone else was out including the teacher who deliberately took his time packing up.

“Ractshet!” The teachers harsh voice woke the Lombax from his mind’s wanderings. He turned in his seat to lookup at the teacher in the beedy eyes.

“Yes sir?”

“I hope you learned your lesson today. I don't want to see you doing that again. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good,” the teacher hissed as he walked over to the door, his many arthropod legs clicking against the stone floor. Ractshet nodded and watched as the teacher left. Then stretching his numb legs he hopped of the stool and out the window. The day was finally over and he couldn’t wait to go home, or more accurately, go to his garage.

…

5339.4.117.

In a time when only one Cragmite existed through out the entire universe, Tachyon heard the screams and saw the scurrying bodies as everyone ran for cover. He smiled.

“Listen up you unfortunate scum bags cursed to be born on this pathetic uncivilized planet! I know you’re hiding a lombax here. So just save your pathetic skins and tell me where?”

Of course no one stepped forward. They were all too scared. “Alright fine. Men, kill the bartender!”

The tyhrranoid who was desperately trying to hide his massive frame behind the small counter gave a squeal of fright. “No wait. Don't kill me. I'll tell you everything. We put em’ in the cellar.”

Tachyon smiled and gestured to one of his Drophyd’s in shiny red armor, “General, if you please.”

The general nodded knowingly and walked over to the man. He raised his arm in the air; everyone froze in fear and Tachyon craned in his seat to see the fun.  
The drophyd general patted the bartender on the back encouragingly, “Emperor Tachyon thanks you for your contribution to furthering his goal in galactic domination.”

There was a moment of stunned silence in which Tachyon thought he would explode. “You incompetent numbskull! What do you think you’re doing?”  
“Uh... Is that a trick question?”

Tachyon sucked in several jagged breaths, his claws digging into the side of his throne. Then he seemed to calm, even managing to smiled. “Yes, that was a trick question. Would you like a different one?”

“Well,” the general smiled back. “Yes I would, thanks.”

“That was a rhetorical question fish guts!”

“Than can I try for a different question? Rhetorical questions make me uncomfortable.”

The small Cragmite rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Does anyone else want to hazard a guess at what I want?”

“Ooh, ooh!” A soldier threw his hand up in excitement. “I'm great at guessen’ games. Let’s see, I guess you really want…”

“Idiots!” Tachyon threw himself back in his chair. “I'm surrounded by idiots. You half wits,” he pointed randomly at several of his soldiers. “Find the Lombaxes and bring them to me. Everyone else, clear the room... No, no, no! I don’t mean escort everyone out! I want you to get rid of all these primitive lowlifes with your plasma guns bubble brains!!!” 

Finally understanding their commander the drophyds began shooting at the civilians. Screams erupted again as everyone ran over each other to escape. Tachyon paid little attention to the desperate cries around him, instead keeping his eyes pealed to the cellar door. Any moment his soldiers would come back with the lombax; perhaps a lone soldier or a fiance and his precious love and maybe even an entire family. He loved it when it was a family. They were so fun to play with, the father down on his knees begging for his family's life, the confusion in the little children's eyes, and the look of despair and sometimes hatred in the mother's eyes when her children were destroyed in front of her. 

I will make every last Lombax suffer. Every last one.

…

5354.4.009

The door to his workshop clanged shut as Ractshet entered the small space and his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. A huge sigh of relief escaped from his lungs as he took in the familiar sight of his cleaned tool bench, the tidy and polished wrenches and ratchets all hanging orderly up on the wall, the boxes of robotic odds and ends carefully stacked and sorted on the shelves, and the smell of fresh polish and cleaner filling the room.

Wait! What?

Organized tools?! A non cluttered work bench?!! Cleanly swept floors?!!! 

Fear gripped the Lombaxes heart. Tachyon had found his safe haven. It was all over.

“Welcome back Ratchet.”

“AAAAAAAAGH!!!”

“I am sorry,” Clank blinked once as his head tilted to the side to line up with the Lombax who had inadvertently jumped into the trash bin. “I did not mean to scare you. Are you alright?” 

“Oh thank goodness it’s just you Clank.” The Lombax said as he struggled to pull himself out of the teeny plastic bin. dust off the flint and fuzz that clung like velcro to his fur.

“Who else would it be?” Clank asked as he offered his hand and helped his friend out of the tight spot.

“I thought you were… Oh, never mind. What did you do to the place?”

“I cleaned it up a bit.” Clank said proudly. 

“Aw man, how am I going to find anything in this organized mess.”

“I am confused by your statement,” the robot lense lids fell half way over his eyes as he squinted at Ractshet. “Now it should be much easier for you to find what you need.”

“Ya, but before I had a system to my chaos. Everything out of place and everything in its out of place place.”

“But then it would have a place. If its place is out of its place than by putting it out of place you’re putting it in its place.”

“Don't confuse the issue.”

“How about you just learn this new system?”

Ractshet shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, but it won't matter for long.”

“Why?” Clank's lens lids clicked together.

“It'll just get messy again.”

The robot looked petrified for a moment then shook his head. He stepped defiantly in front of Ractshet planting his feet wide apart and placing his hands on his hips (if he had any). “You will not let it become a mess again. Understand!”

“But…”

“No, when your done with a tool you put it back. When your done with a project make sure to clean up everything you took out. Leaving everything lying around is a serious health code violation.”

“But it’s not worth the energy.”

“Taking the needed steps to insure your own safety is always worth it.” Clank said matter-of-factly.

“Ugh, you’re like... like having a parent.”

Clank noted the slight tint of sadness in his voice. “Well, your parents need to teach you to clean up after yourself. The state of this place was truly horrific. Do you know I found a lunch box hidden under a pile of sheet metal. When I opened it the food was so foul it took an entire bottle of cleaner to get rid of the smell alone not to mention all the disinfectant I needed to clean the lunchbox itself.”

“You did all that?” This time it was Ractshets turn to cock his head. “Why?”

Clank blinked twice. “I do not know.” The little robot pondered the question a little longer. “I suppose I just saw what needed to be done and did it.”  
“Well... thanks, I guess.”

Clank felt himself smiling a little as he nodded to the large eared creature. “Your welcome Ratchet.”

Ractshet tossed his school bag over the bench chair and pulled on a pair of large trousers over his school clothes. “Alright, time for me to work off some steam. Mind grabbing a ratchet for me? I need a two inch.”

“Of course.” The robot eagerly rushed to help, glad to be useful. 

Ractshet pulled off the tarp on a large object revealing a one seater space ship. Lying on his back the lombax pulled himself under the body of the craft and immediately sounds of clanking and banging began ricocheting off the walls. Every now and again it would stop long enough for Ractshet to ask for another tool. Clank watched with fascination everything the lombax did. His lenses carefully took in every wire the kid connected or every piece of metal or cog he melted together with his blowtorch. Finally, after what seemed like eternity and yet no time at all, the lombax pulled himself out of his ship’s engines and stood back to admire his work.

“That should do it.” He said as he wiped the grease of his fingers with a filthy towel.

“Do what?”

“Start the engine.”

“But wouldn't you need to reattach the exhaust valve?”

The Lombax slapped himself on the forehead with a laugh. “Of course! Can't believe I forgot. Thanks buddy.”

Ractshet dashed under the ship and after a few seconds appeared again with greasy fingers. Climbing over the cockpit his hands reached for the thrusters. “Ready? Here. Goes. Nothing.”

The engines started with a cough and sputter, blowing smoke into the room. Then the fire thrusters ignited and Ractshet ears perked up to hear the rhythmic humming of the craft’s engine as it lifted off the ground and hovered in the air. “Yes!”

“Congratulations.” Clank said genuinely. “If it is not to much, may I ask where you got this model?”

“Oh I didn't get it. I made it out of bits and pieces from the cities junkyard. Why, does it look bad?”

“No. Actually, I’m impressed.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It is not the most efficient craft ever but it does appear to have all the necessary requirements for space flight. However, I did notice you have your engine set to siphon a lot of energy toward the thrusters.”

“Of course. When I take her up I want to go as fast as I can. In fact, let's take her out on a test run right now!”

“I do not think that would be such a good idea,” Clank warned Ractshet as he started to open the garage doors. “It’s getting dark outside and visibility will just get worse.”

Ractshet watched as the garage door lifted up slowly revealing a pitch black landscape of sand with dark clouds filling the sky above. “Drat! What time is it?”  
“8:43 in the third time zone on the planet Fastoon in the Polaris galaxy.”

“I’m late! Oh- if dad finds out he’ll kill me.” Ractshet frantically worked to tare of his grease stained shirt and overalls and smooth out the wrinkled clothes underneath. Grabbing his school bag he checked quickly in the mirror to make sure no grease stains remained on his fur before dashing out the door calling out to Clank, “Bye.”

Clank watched the door slam closed. It didn’t lock, though, and slowly creaked back open. “Guess I will be the one to close that.”

The robot took a step toward the open door when Ractshet suddenly popped his head back through the opening. “By the way, this isn’t called Fastoon anymore, it’s Percival.” Then the door closed for certain this time and Clank found himself once again alone.

“Mmm… I wonder why my memory bank designated this as Fastoon. I must rectify this shortcoming immediately.”

…

5339.2.083

Nasira’s eyes flicked toward the window with the black sky and shimmering stars winking out of it. The temptation crossed her mind to check the time, to see just how late he was, but she refrained from getting up. She wanted this evening to be perfect.

Candlelight flickered casting shadows on the red table cloth with its delicious and elegant spread of toasted Catacrom bread, Calzones from Calzon with red sauce dribbled on top, Krull Cobbler as a sweet side dish, and red wine from Eudora glistening in her finest glasses. Earlier everything had been steaming hot and beautiful, but now the food was stone cold and the candles sputtered on their last wick of life. 

Despite herself a rumble echoed in her stomach and her tail flicked with impatients. But she refrained from her negative thoughts. It has to be perfect.

Cold air blew in threatening to snuff the candles as the door in the kitchen opened and she heard her husband clomp in humming to himself. He was passing by the dining room when he froze with the context of what would have been dessert in his mouth.

“Hi honey,” Kaden said through a guilty mouthful of chocolate cake. “What are you still doing up?”

“Waiting for you, we were going to have dinner tonight, remember?”

The clock in the other room chimed out twelve and with every ding Kaden’s ears lowered. “Guess I forgot.”

Nasira gave his bashful smile a glare, “Food is still ready. Come sit.”

Knowing better than to argue Kaden sat down across from his wife, his eyes glancing over the romantic spread Nasira had prepared. “You really didn’t need to go through all this trouble. I thought it would just be a simple-” He caught the glance his wife gave to the calendar on the wall and the circled date in the middle. He gasped, it was their anniversary. 

“Nasira, I... I’m so sorry,” Kaden began getting out of his seat.

“It’s alright,” she managed to flash him a smile and tried to push him back in his seat down. “I know you’re really busy with your new responsibilities.”

“But that’s no excuse. Please let me make it up to you.” Kaden placed her hand in his and led his wife back to her seat. 

“Kaden, it’s alright.”

“Uh-uh, you worked so hard on this. You sit down and relax while I warm everything back up and serve you for a change. Have some wine and bread while you wait.”  
“Kaden I don…”

“I know perfectly well how to cook, after all I survived three years of academy life on my own, didn’t I?”

Nasira could not help but smile at his comment, “Define survive.”

A spark twinkled in his eyes as he laughed and walked into the kitchen with the cold food in his hands. “Har, har, har. That’s very funny. But how would you know? I never invited you to my flat. We both know I was too scared to even talk to you.”

“Oh, I heard rumors. Your cooking was famous on campus,” Nasira retorted back with a light laugh as she followed Kaden into the kitchen. She loved her husband, but there was no way she was leaving him alone in the kitchen. Being a mechanic he probably would use a blowtorch to try and cook everything faster. 

“Aren't you feeling witty tonight,” Kaden laughed back, but he was worried. It was just an hour before morning, he had promised to be home for dinner, he had forgotten it was their anniversary, and she hadn’t eaten a thing. So why was she making jokes? In all respects she should be brewing mad at him. Why wasn’t she giving him the silent treatment or lecturing him to death? 

Then it dawned on him. Of course! Her blood sugar must be incredibly low from not eating and therefore she wasn’t thinking straight. He had to get something in her quick. 

“Back to the dining room, I told you to sit and snack while I cook.”

“But-”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m a big boy. You just eat this bread and wine. Here, I’ll cut you a slice.”

“Honey, the oven is…”

“How about some wine, I’ll pour you a little,” Kaden offered. He was trying to find a way to boost her energy level before she completely crashed.

“No please, I don’t want any.”

Uh oh! She was past the point where you felt hunger, her body would be shutting down soon. Kaden eagerly pushed the glass into her hands. “Come on. You need it.”

“No I don’t.” Nasira pushed the wine glass away.

“This isn’t up for debate, you have to eat something, now take it.”

“Kaden I can’t.” 

“What do you mean you can’t,” Kaden gave a nervous laugh then his face blanched. “Wait… You’re not feeling ill are you? Is something wrong?”

“No, not exactly.”

“‘Exactly’? So you’re saying you’re not exactly well.”

“No, I just don’t want to drink.”

Kaden couldn’t hide his suspicion any longer. “Honey, this is serious. You’re body is crashing, you need to get something in your system.” He pushed the glass into her hand.

“Kaden please-”

“Nasira-”

“No, Kaden stop. The oven-”

“Your blood sugar is low, please just drink a little.”

“I can’t.”

“It’s not up for discussion.”

“Kaden, would you just-”

“Drink.”

“I’M PREGNANT!” She blurted out. The wine glass froze between them both as Kaden stared into her eyes in shock.

“Wha...” he stuttered.

Nasira pulled away and sighed, a slight smile tickling the corner of her mouth, “And now its out. Oh, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you over dinner when it would be more romantic and… fitting. I suppose that can’t be helped now.” 

Her beaming eyes looked into Kadens still shocked face. “Are... are you pleased?”

“Pleased?” Kaden managed to squeak out the word from his throat which had for some reason tightened as if wishing to strangle him. Then he let go of the tension in his body and took Nasira into his arms, swinging her around and kissed her again and again. 

They both began to laugh with joy as they sank to the floor holding each other in their arms. 

“You are truly happy?” Nasira asked again as they sat in each other’s arms. “I know money is tight and I don’t want to-”

Kaden cupped Nasira’s chin in his hand and lifted her gaze till they both stared into each other’s eyes, his thumb gently stroking the soft fur on her cheek. “Of course I am truly happy. I’m- we’re going to have a child.”

Tears began to brim in her eyes and she mirrored his movement, placing her hand on his cheek and feeling the strong jaw line underneath soft fur. “You’re going to be a father.”

“And you’ll be a mother.”

“We’re parents now.”

Kaden laughed again as he hugged her tighter. “Yes, I guess now we’re parents.”

The clock ticked and the candles went out but neither lombax moved, both blissfully happy in each other’s embrace. 

“Kaden,” Nasira finally spoke.

“Mmm?”

“The oven.”

“What?”

“You left the oven on.”

“Oh!” Kaden jumped up and ran into the kitchen where smoke was beginning to billow. After a few choice curse words amongst great coffing Kaden appeared again with a smoking dish hiding behind his back. “I was just thinking, it’s really too late to eat now. Let’s go to bed and I’ll make something special for breakfast. I’m staying home tomorrow anyway, the AALR can survive a day without me.”

“Kaden.” Nasira warned with a glare that hid a slight twinkle in the green irise of her eye. 

Like a naughty child who knows he did something wrong Kaden slowly drew the charcoal substance from behind his back and showed it to her, “Sorry dear, I got distracted.”

Nasira smiled lovingly at her husband.

“Actually,” Kaden’s eyes drifted up toward the ceiling, “I’m surprised the alarm didn’t go off. I might need to fix it.” 

Kaden pulled a chair toward one of the sprinklers but right as he reached up for it a high pitched alarm sound ripped through the house and a shower of water poured down upon them. 

“Never mind,” Kaden gave his wife a soggy smile.

“Just turn it off and come to bed you rascal. Hopefully you’ll grow up by the time the baby comes so it can have a father and not a mischievous brother.”

Kaden kissed his wife gently on the forehead. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

… 

5354.4.009

Ractshet dashed into the house through the back door. He got half way across the kitchen before he remembered to take of his dusty boots. His eyes caught the dirt track across the floor and he made a mental note to clean that up later, Tachyon hated it when he left dirt on the floor, or did anything slightly wrong. 

He was dashing across the hallway to his room to change when his eyes caught a figure waiting in dining room. Ractshet’s heart actually stopped beating. It was Tachyon.

There was no way he hadn’t been seen, so Ractshet walked slowly into the dining room. Tachyon sat at the table with the lights off, his eyes appearing to glow as he stared down at his son.

“Hey, dad. I didn’t know you were coming by today,” Ractshet gave a nervous smile. The Cragmite was not amused. 

“You mean tonight.” Tachyon growled, a warning light flashed in his yellow eyes.

“Wow, is it really that late?”

“‘Is it really that late’” the emperor mocked Ractshet in a whiny high pitched voice. “Of course it is you half wit! It’s dark outside. What time do you think it is? I came all the way out here, made time out of my busy schedule just to have dinner with you and you weren’t even here. So tell me, what’s the excuse for wasting my valuable time now? It had better be good because I’m hungry and have little patients.”

“I lost track of time.”

“How? What could you possibly be doing to lose track of time?”

Ractshet bit his lip to keep his mouth closed, he was dangerously close to giving himself away. It wasn’t just his own safety he needed to worry about.

“Ractshet!” Tachyon gave him a shrill warning before his voice dropped down to a whisper. “Tell me what you were doing and make sure its the truth or I will get very angry.”

Ractshet tried to keep his face calm as he madly searched for an answer that, for obvious reasons, wasn’t the truth.

Pushing a button Tachyon rose from the table as his metal throne elevated itself and walked toward Racthset on it’s spindly legs. Tachyon circled around the Lombax, Ractshet could feel his father’s eyes boring into him. “You’re covered with sandy dust. Your clothes smell of motor oil and… what is this?”

His robotic throne stopped in front of Ractshet and a metal claw came out, its razor edge gently pressing against Ractshets cheek. The Lombax stood perfectly still, his breath caught in his chest as he tried not to panic or show fear. Then the claw swiped up quickly clipping a few yellow hairs which drifted down to the ground beside his feat. Tachyon brought the claw toward him and inspected the object which quivered on the claws edge like a feather. 

“Some sort of… flint?” Tachyon looked quizzically at the strange thin metal.

Ractshet felt dread fill his bones as he realized what it was, one of Clanks macroscopic motor plate endings which he had been inspecting earlier that day. It must have been swept into the garbage bin and when I fell in...Oh this is bad. If Tachyon took the ‘flint’ to his lab and did some tests he would find out what it really was, or what it once was a part of, which would lead him to discovering the garage. Ractshet had to stop him. Distract him. Anything!

“I was hoverboarding out in the desert.” Ractshet blurted out, trying to make the lie as true as possible.

“I’m sorry” Tachyon took his eyes of the flint, a dangerous hiss reverberating in his high voice. “I must have heard you incorrectly. I thought you said you were hoverboarding. But,” Tachyon smiled down on his son, “we both know you couldn’t have said that especially since I banned you from such activities. So I’ll give you one more chance. Where were you?”

“I went hoverboarding,” Racthset repeated himself syllable for syllable, an edge of indignation slipping into his voice. 

“Ractshet..!”

“You said you wanted the truth, right? Well here it is; you’re never around and when you are you’re always angry at me. Out here in the middle of nowhere I have nothing to do and no one to talk to so what else do you expect me to do? Sit at the table twiddling my thumbs hoping that you’ll suddenly feel like dropping by. Ha! So ya, I go hoverboarding out in the desert plateau.”

“Do you know how busy I am-” Tachyon began, his voice rising in pitch with his anger. 

“I know! You always say you’re busy,” Ractshet yelled up at his father. “And you always tell me I’m a- a Lombax, but those are just excuses so you don’t have to deal with me. You always remind me that your life was hard, that you suffered as well, but you never seem to care that I’m suffering too. If you really went through what I’m going through then why don’t you have any empathy for me?” 

Racthset felt his heart pounding as he spoke. Everything in him told him to stop, to shut his mouth. His eyes flicked toward the plate ending which was still balanced on Tachyons metal claw. Ractshet tried to steady his nerves. He had to get Tachyon to move that claw. 

“You have no idea what I suffered through.” Tachyon yelled back, his crown momentarily falling over his face as he leaned toward Racthset.

“You know what,” Racthset felt his head pound, it was getting harder to think. “Sometimes I feel like you want me to experience what you went through. You want me to suffer like you did.”

“How dare you!” The Cragmite emperor hissed at Ractshet, his yellow eyes burning with hatred. “After all I’ve done for you. If it weren’t for me you would be dead, do you know that? DEAD!” 

“Yeah?!” All thought abandoned Ractshets mind replaced by pure hurt and pain. “Well maybe I’d prefer that over you.”

*WHAM*

Ractshet felt an explosion of pain slam into him making direct contact with his left cheek as it threw him backward. 

“You pathetic waste of an idiotic underlying!” Ractshet could here Tachyon screaming at him from above. “Don’t you dare speak to me like that!!!”

Ractshet started to pick himself up off the floor, the whole side of his face was numb and his ears were ringing. Looking up into the contorted face of his father, Racthset felt fear replace his anger. He had gone too far. “I’m sorry.”

A hard metal claw clamped around him, tightening about his chest as it lifted him in the air and brought him right up to Tachyon hot breath and sharp beak like mouth. The yellow eyes stared into Ractshet’s own and for a moment the boy almost thought he saw a flicker of pleasure in the Cragmites beady pupils. 

“No your not,” his father hissed into his ear, his breath tickling the fur on Racthset’s neck. “Not yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *maniacal laughter* ;}


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People who attack cities for no reason are jerks. Pirates are not secret agents. The desert is not advisable terrain for test flights. And Sasha's secret plan is not so secretive.
> 
> Also friendship is born on the burial grounds of a forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's not dead?! 
> 
> Me!
> 
> I know I probably fooled you all for a while, but no need to worry anymore. I can now assure you all that I am very much alive and that the prolonged silence where nothing happened was just that… a prolonged silence where nothing happened.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this next chapter!

5339.4.117

A white Lombax with burgundy stripes and a face hardened by years of combat stood atop a large building hidden by the shadows of greater structures of height and grandeur. Below him even smaller buildings clustered in the low class part of the city. Dingy unkempt stores and blocked up buildings crowded mean streets as cloth lines full of dripping laundry decorated the alleyways like dull coloured streamers. The general’s eyes followed a thin trail of smoke that wisped its way into the air from a dark little pub where cries of alarm could be faintly heard traveling with the fires fog. Though he knew it was his fault the pub was being attacked the general Lombax felt no guilt, not after they had taken his money and then tried to give him over to Tachyon.

Hopefully that traitor Tachyon would go home after he was done with his tantrum. Realistically though the general knew he should get as far away from here as possible.

The Lombax was just turning to leave when his ears twitched at hearing the first real terrified screams. Hesitantly he turned his gaze back to the small dismal streets. His jaw clenched when he saw Drophyds streaming out of the burning tavern and attacking anyone in sight. Huge dark shadows fell upon the city and dropships fired bolts randomly throughout its streets. The the cities local defense force was soon on the scene trying to push back the invaders, but they were greatly outnumbered and only added to the confusion and crossfire. Within the span of a few moments everything had fallen into the cynical clutchest of discord. 

The general watched as the Cragmite emperor walked coolly out of the burning bar and into his dropship to make his smug retreat. Tachyon knew that his Drophyd military was too small to successfully wage war against the entire planet. But Igliak was a peaceful planet the Cragmite scumbag knew he had some time to have fun before the planet’s military could respond and any allied planets could come and assist the burning city.

But why would Tachyon even attack this city? Why bring about such distraction if all he was going to do was leave? What was the point?

The general tried to make sense of it before a deep growl escaped his throat as he realized that Tachyon wasn’t looking for a tactful gain but merely entertainment.

With anger gnawing in the pit of his stomach the general turned away from the burning city and tried to convince himself to leave. After all, this was not his responsibility. But the fire, the cries for help, the billowing smoke, they echoed in his ears and tore into his heart as flashes of his home flicked through his mind’s eye. 

This, all of it, was his fault. He had allowed Tachyon to gain his power and now he was being punished for it. But he wasn’t the only one paying for his mistake, the entire universe was too. He and they were trapped in space and time with this murdering cragmite and it was his fault. 

The guilt won the Lombax over and he lept into action, jumping off his high perch and speeding down the side of the building with his hover boots. This was his responsibility and he was going to do all he could to fix it. 

 

5354.4.009.

The sky was pitch dark with only the stars to shine upon the desert sand. The small form of the last Lombax in Polaris shivered in his bed, a fearful expression casting shadow on his sleeping face. Argocs the Cragmite slowly creaked the door open and stepped inside the Lombax’s room.

The clock had just struck one when Argocs crept into Tachyons home with a small jar in his hands. He had heard what had happened that night and could not resist coming. Now in Ractshet’s room, Argocs took out a small glowing orb and set it hovering over the young teens shivering body. He gently pulled off the covers and immediately felt a heavy burden settle on his shoulders when he saw the bruises that covered Ractshet’s body. 

Carefully Argocs lifted the lid off the jar and scooped out a translucent gel and went to massaged into the darkest of bruises. But as his hand reached out to minister the medicine to the damaged skin he hesitated. His claw like hand shook slightly over the soft fur of the Lombax as he considered whether or not to touch the boy. Though Argocs cared for Ractshet, the child was still a Lombax. Taking a deep breath, Argocs made his hand come down. After the initial shock of feeling fur for the first time Argocs began gently massaging the gel into the deepest of bruises and cuts. 

As he worked the Cragmite was glad that the Lombax was not awake. If Ractshet did open his eyes he would look to Argocs to explain how these wounds, how the pain, was love. The old Cragmite knew he would not be able to find an excuse for this one and neither should he.

Once finished Argocs took one last sad look at the unfortunate child before slipped out of the house and disappearing into the night. As he left Argocs did not notice the shadow that had been watching him the entire time from outside Ractshets window. 

 

5339.4.017.

Max stormed down the hall, his large frame filling the small space while red lights flashed overhead and a warning bells rang. Coming to the end of the hall Max entered a room full of surveillance cameras with two chair stationed in the middle. Two war robots were in the room with their optic lenses on the screen but when Max came in they both turned to him.

“What’s going on?” Max asked in a deep yet unusually soft spoken voice for a man his size.

“A ship just appeared out of warp drive and is heading our way, sir.” One of the robots saluted as he stood up. 

“Friend or foe?”

“It’s pretty banged up,” the same robot answered, “So I’d say it’s a pirate ship.”

“Pirate ship?” The other said. His voice was more of a relaxed country talk compared to the stiff general accent of his partner. “Cronk you darn fool, did ya replace your bolts for screws? That ship there doesn’t have any cannons or pirate flags. I’d say it was more a refugee ship just come out of some sticky situation.”

“Yer more rust than metal yourself. Refuges are pirates. Their refugees from the law, aren’t they? And they are always coming out o’ a battle.”

“True, but do you see a pirate skull on its hull or pirate flag flappin’ atop it? Cause I don’t and my eyes are betta’ than yours.”

“Hu! Yer eyes are as broken as yer voice box, Zephyr. I say it’s a pirate ship and I’m yer veteran in ranks.”

“My veteran in age only you old clonk box.”

“I have been in the military longer than you’ve been alive, sonny.”

“With a jabberin’ jaw like yours I wonder how you even got into the army you retired dust bin.”

“Boys!” Max deep voice cut in between the fast flying flippant remarks they were tossing back and forth and both robots looked up to see the scowling face of their leader. “I don’t care who is older, I want to know if this ship is a danger to our facility and whether or not we should be shooting it down.”

“Well,” Cronk said. “If it’s a pirate ship-”

“Which it isn’t” Zephyr interrupted.

“-then most definitely.”

“But it ain’t.” 

“Would you shut yer gabber Zephyr, it could be an undercover pirate ship.”

“Now when have you ever heard of a undercover pirate? I only heard of undercover agents or spies.”

Sighing, Max pushed himself past the two robots to the control panel. There he zoomed in on the ship with one of the surveillance cameras in order to make his own assessment of the unknown space craft. It did look very banged up, but was it a pirate ship?

Right then a flashing light blinked on the council signaling an incoming message. 

“Quiet boys!” Max ordered. "The ship is hailing us."

“Hello? Max?!” A familiar voice spoke through a grainy speaker. “It’s me-kkkffffft- Kaden. I- kkchfft- help.” 

“Kaden?” Max said the name as if it were a word from another time. With excitement Max grabbed the com, “Kaden! You’re alive!”  
“Yes. I need-ffffft- doct- kkffffk-but I-” The voice faded in and out.

“Would you look at that!” Max heard Zephyr speak as he and Cronk watched the surveillance screen. “The ship is fallin’ apart as we speak.” 

Max felt panic seized him as he realized he might be losing the friend he had just gotten back. “Kaden,” he yelled into the com. “Hang in there! I’m sending out some pilot ships to tow you in, okay?”

Max didn’t know if Kaden had heard him, but that didn’t matter right now. “Cronk, I need you to radio the docking crew and tell them to retrieve that spaceship. Also inform everyone not to shoot at the craft. Zephyr, inform the nursing station they are to be expecting another patient. Tell them it’s a male Lombax.”

“Yes sir,” both robots soluted as Max marched out of the room headed toward the docking station. 

“Hmm… I don’t remember the Lombax sayin’ he was injured, do you?” Cronk turned to his partner and asked.

“With how bad his ship is I wouldn’t be surprised,” Zephyr answered as he grabbed one of the radio coms and began relaying Max’s message. 

 

5354.4.012.

Ractshet pushed against his ship as sweat beaded down his face. He could taste the salt on his tongue as it ran down his cheeks and into the corner of his mouth. The ship was hovering over the sand so it actually wasn’t that hard to push over the dunes, but the sun was beating down upon them with full force and Ractshet felt the heat as it blasted on his back. The teen glanced at the little robot who sat in the driver’s seat carefully steering the ship as Ractshet pushed it. 

The robot, Clank, turned his head and cocked it to the side as he looked down at Ractshet. “Are you sure you don’t just want to fly to the testing zone?”  
“Na! I’m good.” Ractshet huffed back. An irritating itch began behind his ear as a grain of sand got stuck in his fur. “That would spoil the fun. I want my first flight in this baby to be memorable.”

From the confused look on the robots face Ractshet guessed that Clank did not see how a test drive could be fun. That was probably because he had never flown with Ractshet before and therefore could not comprehend what the boy had planned. The teen felt a smile spread across his face. This is going to be epic, he thought as he giggled maniacally to himself.

As for Clank, he was beginning to feel slightly nervous. He had been scanning the desert ever since they got out here but all he could see was sand, sand, and more sand. He was trying to spot a runway that could perhaps be hidden behind one of the larger dunes or maybe the canyons but there weren’t any other ships in the sky. And the fact that Ratchet kept giggling under his breath made Clank question whether they were going to a test site at all. 

As soon as the thought entered his mind Clank banished it. After all, his memory chip did state that flying in designated zones was a custom of most species and Clank was sure Ratchet would follow the law... Right?

“Okay,” Ratchet stopped pushing and lept onto the ship’s hull. “I’ll fly from here.”

Clank moved out of the seat and relinquished the controls. “Is it far?”

“What?” Ractshet asked as he strapped himself in.

“The flight testing zone.”

“Oh, you mean like the place where they teach new fliers how to fly?”

“Uhm- yes. That is what I was referring to.”

Ratchet gave a laugh. “Oh-no. We’re going off trail today.”

Clank felt a sinking feeling in his gears, “Oh.”

Quickly Clank tried to banish the negative thoughts. Everything will be fine. The sky is clear and with no one around and no real obstacles so there is no way we could crash. Yes, Ratchet must know what he’s doing.

But as the Lombax reached for the gear shift Clank caught a flash of daring excitement in the corner of the furry creatures eye and his nervousness turned into pure panic.

With a jerking sensation that pressed Clank deep into the cushion of his seat they blasted forward, literally creating a storm of sand behind them as the craft raced away. Ractshet gave a whoop of delight while Clank found himself looking back where they had come sure that he would see his insides lying in the dust behind them.

When he turned back around Clank gave a gasp to see that Ractshet was flying them right into the maze of the desert canyons.

While Clank was panicking Ratchet was having the time of his life. He had always loved hoverboarding- but this? This was way better!!

He pushed on the control stick and they went diving straight down into the ravine and then up again like a yoyo. With a slight adjustment to the steering they careened to the side and almost hit the canyon’s rock walls. 

A little panic slipped into the Lombax’s mind as he realised just how crazy he was being right now, but this was way too cool to let caution take control.

“Ratchet! Watch out!” Clank called out and Ractshet reacted instinctively, barrel rolling out of the way of a rock pillar which jutted out right in the middle of the ravine. 

A smile broadened on his face as they zipped by the obstacle and he began weaving in and out of the rock formations. Red sand stone zipped by them as Ractshet’s ship went faster and faster till he had no time to think, just react. Death was probably a high percentage for them right then but that thought only increased the adrenalin already coursing through Ractshet veins. He couldn’t wipe away the large grin spreading across his face.

The walls of the canyon began closing in on them and up ahead he saw the sandstone almost come together leaving a thin sliver of space. They were going to fast to stop now so that only left one option. However, there was no way any sane person would try to squeeze by there. Good thing Ractshet wasn’t sane.

“Ratchet?!” He heard a panicked voice cry out.

“Hang on,” Racthset called as he moved the controls to the side and the ship went vertical just as it entered the small gap in the stone walls. Darkness closed in around him and the ship fought his control as he tried to keep it steady. The light ahead burst upon them and they shot back out into the clear air like a plasma bolt from a fusion barrel and up into the bright blue sky.

“Whooohoooo!” Racthset laughed again as he spun the ship in an upward spiral before straightening out, but still traveling upward at a break neck speed. 

His eyes caught the world that spanned out below him and it was fascinating. The wind moved across the dunes of sand creating patterns in red and gold while the canyon cut across the designed fabric like a tare. Dark water sifted and slithered near the edge of the desert like a shimmering snake weaving its way through a golden fields. As the plane went higher the image changed and no longer looked like a carpet but a golden beast in deep slumber. The shifting of the dunes from the wind depicted the heaving and breathing of the creature as it slept. The canyon was now a scar that cut deep into the creatures golden back. Ractshet looked to the left and saw a land cast in shadow, seething with smoke and pollution. The city of Percival looked like a festering disease on the golden creatures skin. 

Ractshet stared at the city, unsure how he felt about the capital of Tachyon’s Empire. With all this natural beauty surrounding the place the boy could not help but feel like the city profaned the landscape with its smog.

“Ratchet!” Clanks voice called to him. “We need to level out. The ship’s main thrusters can’t take this for much longer... Ratchet?!”

“What?” Ractshet heard himself speak, though for a moment he didn’t know to who. Then his mind snapped back into focus and he found himself sitting back in the plane's cockpit with the ship still shooting straight up into the air.

“The thrusters,” Clank repeated himself. “We have to level out right now or-”

Clank didn’t get to finish because right then the ship’s engine shuttered and Racthset could actually feel the entire ship die under his fingers. For a moment they continued their upward flight, then Racthset felt the gravity take hold of them.

“Aaaaaaaaaaghh!” Both robot and Lombax screamed as they plummeted to the ground, the ship turning round and round in a crazy freefall as Ractshet struggled to regain control. Clanks makeshift straps broke and he began clanking against wall, side, windshield, seat, and wall again. 

“Ratchet!” The robot managed to call out as he tumbled about.

“I’m trying, I’m trying.” Ractshet yelled past the sound of the wind howling around them. “But the engine won’t turn back on. I can’t get control!”  
“Turn-” clank- “off the engine!”

“It’s already off, its dead!” Ractshet called, panic was beginning to grip him.

“No, the eng-” clink- “ine has stalled, you-” clank, clunk- “need to turn it off and back on again.”

“Right!” Ractshet would have slapped his head for being so thick if he wasn’t using his hands to flip the engine switch. He tried twice but nothing happened. The ground was rushing up toward them and Ractshet could feel his heart quickening knowing time was running out. Again he flicked it on, this time he felt the entire ship shutter as it tried to turn on. 

“Come on!” Ractshet flicked the switch one more time and the engine roared to life. The Lombax pulled on the steering with all his might, willing the ship to pull out of its nosedive. The wind howled louder and a screeching sound of metal against air bombarded them as the ship pulled upward and then shot out of its death dive. 

Ractshet desperately tried to level out the ship, but the engine sputtered and they began falling again. Right as metal went to meet sand the engine flicked on one last time so that Ractshet could pull it up enough that instead of a headlong dive into their graves the spacecraft glanced off the dune like a ship riding an ocean wave. Dune after dune the ship hit, each time the speed slowed and the craft sunk deeper and deeper till it was no longer bouncing off but plowing through the dunes. Finally the space ship slide to a stop, smoke and sand billowing all around them.

Ractshet coughed out sand and unbuckled from his seat.

“Whoa! That was a close one wasn’t it, Clank... Clank?” Ractshet felt a surge of fear when he looked beside him and saw the empty space where Clank used to be. Glass shards appeared around him as his vision cleared. The windshield had broken!

“Clank! Clank!!” Ractshet desperately climbed out of his seat and peered at the desert around him. He was about to call again when he saw a flash as the sun blinded him a moment, reflecting on something metal out in the sand.

“Clank!” Ractshet cried out in relief and rushed over to the robot, slipping and stumbling down the side of a hot dune to reach the robot who had been thrown several yards away from the crash sight.. 

“You okay there buddy?” Ractshet lifted the mini robot up into a sitting position. 

“Yes, I believe so,” Clank said. His voice sounded as calm as ever despite their near death experience. Carefully the mini bot got to his feet and tried to take a step forward but his knee gave way and he went tumbling down the rest of the dune.

“Oh, man, oh man, oh man, oh man!” Ractshet ran after Clank and lifted him out of the sand. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“This sand.” Clank said, his lenses focused more intensely on the red dunes around them instead of on Ractshet. “It’s strange.”

“What?" Ractshet took an uncertain step back. "Sand?"

"Yes…" Clank lifted up his hand and watched the particles of sand slip through his digits. "How interesting yet puzzling."

"This is bad, this is really bad.” The Lombax shook his head as he came to a stop and kneeled down beside Clank. “I broke your mind!!”

“No, Ratchet.” Clank chuckled in his own unique way. “My system is doing a self check right now and besides my leg I am fine.”

“Oh good.” Ractshet tried to laugh off the anxiety that had built up in his chest. “If it’s just your knee than I can fix that. Let’s go back to the shed.” Ractshet carried Clank over to the wreckage of the ship and began fishing around in the back of the cockpit for something to carry Clank back home with.

Clank was left sitting on the hull of the ship where he had a perfect view of the pathway they had made in the sand during their crash landing. 

“That was quite a flight,” Clank remarked. Ractshet felt himself shrink inside as an old feeling of fear and doubt filled him. 

“Ya, that was. Better than any amusement ride in the galaxy, right?” The teen tried to joke it off. In truth Ractshet was scared, though he didn’t know why. It wasn’t like Clank would beat him up or bombard him with cruel and unusual names like a Cragmite would. Clank wasn’t like that. The robot would probably just leave and find someone better to hang out with. When that thought entered his mind Ractshet realized why he was so afraid. 

“Was that your first time flying?” Clank asked.

“Ya,” Ractshet admitted sheepishly.

“Really?”

“Yup.” 

There was a pause of silence which ticked by for Ractshet like hours. Then Clank spoke, “I’m impressed.”

“Really?!” Ratcshet paused in his work and stole a glance up at Clank in surprise.

“Yes, not only were your reflexes excellent, but you kept quite cool under pressure.”

Ractshet stepped out of the cockpit with a rope in his hand and a relieved smile on his face. He was so thankful Clank was choosing to look over his grievous mistakes like when he completely spaced out while flying.

“What’s that for?” Clank pointed to the cord in Ractshet’s grasp.

“I’m going to use it to strap you to me so we can get home.”

“What about the ship?”

“We can get that later. Right now we gotta get you fixed.”

Clanks smiled, or at least it looked like a smile, as Ractshet wrapped the cord around them both and strapping Clank to his back. When he finished the Lombax began trekking back to the shed which now, without the ship, seemed very far away. After a moments silence Clank spoke up again. “That sand though, it’s very interesting.”

Ractshet tried to look back at the robot, his brow arched in confusion. “What?”

“The sand.”

“Ya, but why is it so important?”

“Well, it’s not sand. At least, it’s not the usual mineral and dirt you would find in a desert.”

“Oh?”

“Besides salt and other elements of desert sand it appears to be made of calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, manganese, sulfur, chlorine, silicon, phosphorus, lignin, as well as a high amount of decomposing cellulose.”

“And all of that means?”

“There used to be a great forest here.”

Now that was surprising. Ractshet looked out across the desert and tried to imagine a forest but all he could see was sand. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, but whatever happened occurred within 15 to 10 years ago.”

Neither one knew what to say and Ractshet felt somewhat sad as he wondered what kind of catastrophe could destroy an entire ecosystem. 

 

5354.4.010

Sasha Pyronix felt worry gnawing at her as she went about her work. It had been over a week and the secret agent had not made contact with them once. Not once!

Of course Sasha and her father had been prepared for this, it had been a frail plan to begin with. Her heart sank as she bitterly considered everything they ever did seemed to be so frail. Sixteen years of this and she felt the Galactic Rebels hadn't made any progress.

Yes they had managed to keep an entire galaxy out of the Cragmite's rule. Yes despite all of emperor Tachyon's efforts they had kept the Galactic Rebels alive. But for how much longer? One day Tachyon, with his galaxy of resources, would take over the last free galaxy. One day he would find her and her father and kill them both just as he had done with the other leaders. 

Her one solace was that when she and her father fell other leaders would rise. The Galactic Rebels were spread so far and wide that not even her father knew of all its members. That was part of the reason the Cragmites had been unable to defeat them. Different people knew different secrets but no one knew them all so the Cragmites could never find them all. The other reason the Galactic Rebels still existed was actually thanks to the Cragmites themselves. So harsh and cruel was their leader and such was their ferocity that it was easy to hate them. And boy were there a lot of people who hated them.

In fact, Sasha was reviewing such people right now and deciding whether or not to recruit them.

“This one right here Miss Pyronix,” a blue robot said pointing to a holo screen with the picture of a robot with a green globe head and keen red eyes. “He's got an impressive IQ, why I'd say he's almost as smart as my mother.”

“Ha!” Another robot, who was orange, laughed at his companion. “Stop making things up, Cronk. Your mother was as rusted a tin can as yourself.”

“How should you know, you never met my mother. She invented the trans-death-zombi-bird-apocalypse gun. It was so dangerous that we had to hide the weapon on an asteroid right in the center of a black hole.”

“You can't have a darn asteroid in a black hole! It would get sucked right in and destroyed. And why would your mother create a zombi bird gun anyway? What possible good or bad could come out o' dead birds flyin' around?”

“Boys, can we please continue,” Sasha interrupted. The two robots were extremely old, outdated, and sometimes annoying. But they were valuable and loyal soldiers, both being two of the few survivors of the First and Second Tragedy and the Space Between Tragedy. In fact those two had been one of the first to join the Galactic Rebels. They had even worked closely with the first Galactic Rebel leader, General Apogee. It was really amazing to think that they had survived every major battle ever fought between the rebels and the Cragmites. She always wondered at the vast knowledge they must have stored away in their memory core, if only they could be made to remember it all. 

“I don't think we can trust this scientist.” Sasha said after studying his information again. “But until we know for sure treat him as a NFNN-63.”

“Gotcha,” the orange one named Zephyr nodded. “No Face No Name.”

“Yes siry,” Cronk nodded as he leaned on his friend’s shoulders. “We'll give him just enough information to make him useful but not enough to do any damage. I think yer doing the right thing princess. I don't trust the look o' that whipper snapper.”

“Okay, let’s see who's next?” Sasha was eager to continue.

A picture appeared on the holo screen of a young female Markazarian. Her dark eyes stared intensely at them and she looked like a born and bred fighter.

“This one, mame, is named Talwyn Azimuth.” Zephyr read of off the screen. “She's from Valin and it says here she is a survivor of the Meridian Tragedy and that all her family was killed in the attack.”

“Really?” Sasha sat forward in interest. It was always good to find survivors of the Meridian Tragedy. That had been the first great attack by Tachyon on another planet besides Fastoon. It was during the time of the Space Between Tragedy when the Galactic Rebels were just starting, right before Tachyon resurrected almost the entire race of Cragmites from their supposed death by Lombax vaporizer. People who came from that time tended to have a special dislike for the Cragmites.

“Oooh!” Zephyr exclaimed. “It says also that she was trained in the art of Lombax warfare.”

“What?” Sasha's small pointed ears twitched. “But her profile says she was born the year 5339. How could she have even met a Lombax let alone trained under one? They were destroyed completely during the First Tragedy. Is it some kind of typo?”

“Nope.” Cronk shook his head as he read over his partners shoulder.

Sasha sat back disappointed. The girl was probably a Cragmite spy. No one else would think of such an outlandish story to feed her. She looked over the article on her holo pad one more time. Such a shame too because this girl looked promising. Then her eyes brightened with delight and she opened a sealed drawer to pull out a memory chip. “Zephyr, Cronk please categorize Talwyn as a DC-101.”

“Direct Contact!” Both robots exclaimed at once with their jaws dropping almost to the floor.

Without hesitating Sasha nodded, “Give her this chip and any supplies she requires, got it.”

“Does this chip hold the secret plan that nobody's supposed to know about, not even yer father.” Cronk asked as he pointed to the chip in her hand.

“Way to keep a darn secret, Cronk.” Zephyr clanked his friend over the head.

Sasha felt a rage mixed with anxiety well up in her, “You... you were spying on me!”

“Oh no mame,” Zephyr was quick to defend himself. “We were cleanin- I mean patrolin- er, I mean- we sorta accidentally overheard... it was Cronks fault!”

“Wait- what! You know full well it were yer fault you old-”

“Boys!”

“Sorry.” Both robots apologized.

“How much do you know?” Sasha looked both the robots in the lenses.

“Only that it's a secret,” Cronk admitted.

“And that it’s important,” Zephyr added helpfully.

Sasha sighed a little with relief. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“Oh no mame. We know not to tell secrets...” Zephyr paused to look at his friend, “Well I do at least.”

Miss Pyronix eyed the two robots as she carefully handed them the chip. “Good. Now please do not speak about this to anyone and also don't read what’s on that chip! Understood?”

“Yes madame.” Both robots saluted.

“Do you want us to erase the secret out of our memory?” Cronk asked, ever the loyal soldier.

“No,” Sasha shook her head not wanting to jeopardize the vast knowledge in their mind. “As long as you two keep quiet all will be fine.”

“Yes madame!” Both robots saluted again and then walked out with the chip tucked safely away.

Sasha sighed, a slight smile spread across her lips. It was always nice, and annoying, to talk to those two. In a stressful life where hundreds of lives are at stake with every decision you make and death could come at anytime it was refreshing to laugh.

But now they were gone and it was back to work. Walking over to her desk she pulled out of the same drawer that had held the chip a small plasma pad. Clicking the button at the side she felt surprise to see it respond at once with the receiver looking right at her as if he had been waiting.

“Greetings Sasha Pyronix,” the creature spoke. “I’ve been expecting you,” at this the little figure's face coiled up at his own words. “Oh dear, that sounded much too sinister. Sorry, let me try again... Hello, I was thinking that it was about time we had a chat. Mmm, yes. That sounds much better.” 

The little creature who spoke to her was a diminutive looking thing with skin the hue of a light purplish pink. His head was large for his body only his two large spheres he had for eyes could rivaled it in the grandeur of the disproportion. The blue eyes emanated a light which took up the entirety of the spheres making the eyes look like two undisturbed pools of liquid which you couldn't tell whether it was impossible deep or extremely shallow. Despite the lack of pupils and misty eyes the creature’s overall look was friendly and even cute reminding her of a bobble head toy often seen on spacecraft’s dashboards. 

“Orvus,” Sasha greeted him. “I have some good news.”

“Oh goody, I love good news. What is it?”

“Its Talwyn.”

“Who?”

“Talwyn! You know, the girl we've been looking for.”

The creature, known as a Zoni (though who besides herself knew of the secret species was questionable), looked off into space thoughtfully before shaking his head. “I'm sorry but I don't know who Talwyn is. Is she a friend of yours?”

“No she's _the_ girl,” Sasha said anxiously. She had thought for sure that Orvus, who seemed to know everything, would know the girls name. “The one you told me to give the secret plan to.”

“Mmmm… nope. I do not know what- Oh wait! You mean _the one_!”

“Yes.”

“Splendid! Why didn't you say so in the first place?”

Sasha wondered how wise this creature could really be when he seemed so... silly. “I do have a concern though. Isn't this mission too dangerous for just one person?”

“Oh it is.”

“Then why don't we recruit more?”

“We don't need to,” Orvus gave a funny light chuckle. “Time is taking care of everything.”

“But how can you tell?”

“When you get to be my age- wait... what is my age? I mean, how do you count the time you’ve been alive when you live right in the center of time- give or take fifty years).”

“Wait,” Sasha interrupted the small creature. “I thought you said you lived in the center of the universe- give or take fifteen feet- not time?”

“The center of the universe is also the center of time. The universe isn’t just made of space but time as well. I did tell you I live in a time machine, right?.. No wait, it’s not really a time machine as much as a time fixer or… keeper... thingy. Well, never mind. The point I was making before is that when you get to where I am in time you will learn that it doesn't matter all the planning and strategizing you do. There comes a point when none of that matters and all your planning and preparing can come to nothing if time does not steps in. You see, in time everything is accomplished... or forgotten. In fact, in the close future you'll look back and realize that time was working on this plan long before you. So time in a way has done half the work for you.”

“Does that mean I should do nothing and just leave it up to time?” Sasha asked, frustrated that Orvus seemed to be saying that all her hard work didn't matter.  
“Oh no! Never! You see if everyone stopped doing then there would be no need for time and time would all together stop as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is that as you work someone else is working too. Both your plans may be different but through time those two works come together and the real work is realized. You must come to know, Sasha, that you’re only working on half the plan. Someone else or a lot of someones (you really can’t tell) is working on the other half. When the time is right then everything will come together...” 

The zoni got a funny look on his face as he contemplated what he had just said. “Oh dear. I seemed to have just used the word 'time' a lot. So sorry. Guess that’s what happens when your right at the center of time.” Orvus gave a funny chuckle at himself. Sasha felt sure that there was no laugh like it in the entire universe.  
“Well? Is there any other good news.” Orvus asked hopefully.

“Uh... no.” Sasha felt bad to see the disappointed look that fell upon the small creatures features. But then his eyes brightened and he sat up straighter.

“That’s alright. I've got my own good news to share; it’s about my son.”

“Oh?” Sasha sat down to make herself comfortable. She didn't really have the time to listen to Orvus talk about his life but she always enjoyed it especially when he talked about this son. She remembered when she was a small girl her father had asked her if she had made any friends that day. She had looked at him matter-of-factly and said, “I'm too busy papa. There is no time to make friends when you’re running a rebellion.” Yes, even then she had been dedicated to her father’s work. She never forgot the sad look that fell upon her father’s face. Now she understood that he had been sad that the world they lived in was so harsh. They lived in a universe of fighting and surviving with no time to do the normal things of life. That was why it was nice to listen to Orvus talk, because he to her seemed normal.

“My son made a new friend today,” the Zoni continued.

“Really?”

“Oh yes. My son is quite a good judge of character. They went racing in the desert earlier, or at least that’s what it looked like they were doing but I'm not quite sure. Don't you usually compete against other people in a race? … mmm.”

“I should like to meet your son one day,” Sasha said almost wistfully. She tried to picture a mini version of Orvus playing with a ball or running about with other Zoni kids like a normal little boy would.

Orvus smiled kindly at Sasha. “Don't worry. You will, both of them.”

“Both who? You have _two_ sons?”

“What? Oh no, no, no. I mean that one day, very soon, you will meet my son and his friend.”

Sasha smiled at this. Meet two other Zoni, really? She had only ever met Orvus (and never in person) and nobody else really knew what a Zoni was. To think that she would meet not just one but three beings of a secret species that practically no one saw let alone knew of. 

“Well, I must go before someone comes searching for me,” Sasha said.

“Yes, of course.” Orvus nodded understandingly. “Time is always an issue for you, isn’t it? Goodbye then and we shall speak again, though I believe it will be after you meet my son.”

Sasha gave a nod goodbye and turned the pad off before placing it back in its secure drawer. She sighed and gave a smile as she considered Orvus and the two war robots Cronk and Zephyr. The bots, despite the Tragedies they had witnessed, were still normal. Orvus, who seemed to know about all of time with all of its wars and conflicts, was also normal. They laughed, joked, and spoke of family and friends. Everyone else was too busy fighting to survive to be so normal.

But if Cronk, Zephyr, and Orvus were the minority then did that make them the abnormal ones? No, she couldn't believe that. She didn't want her life to be the norm. She wanted normal to be children playing in parks and parents watching with their greatest fear being if the child fell of the swings. Most of all she wanted normal to be safe. She wanted normal to be family and friends, laughter and idle chit chat. This normal was the ideal world she was fighting for. The cragmites had taken all of that away and that was why she, Sasha Pyronix, hated the blood hungry creatures so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasha, Sasha, Sasha…  
> Just because Orvus is a Zoni does not mean that his son- or is son's friend -are Zoni too.
> 
> Also, bet you think Talwyn Azimuth was a typo… hehehehe.
> 
> *whispers* It's not. ;]


End file.
